SPACE — NASA has announced plans to use starshade technology to search for new planets beyond our solar system.<br /><br />Two spacecraft would be used in a future starshade mission, according to the space agency's website.<br /><br />One would be a space telescope that would look for planets while the other probe would be carrying the starshade.<br /><br />NASA said the starshade technology would be used to block starlight. This would allow the telescope to get a clear view of any new orbiting planets in space.<br /><br />The spacecraft carrying the starshade would fly 40,000 kilometers in front of the planet-hunting telescope.<br /><br />NASA explained that this technology would only work if the two spacecraft stay are aligned to within one meter of each other. If there is a greater distance between the two, this would allow light from star to seep into the space telescope's view.
